Mastering Active and Passive Voice

Mastering Active and Passive Voice

Learning Objective

Understand the difference between active and passive voice, and apply this knowledge to construct advanced English sentences.

What do you already know about active and passive voice?

Slide 1: Introduction to Active and Passive Voice

Active voice emphasizes the doer of the action, while passive voice emphasizes the receiver of the action. For example, 'The cat chased the mouse' (active) vs. 'The mouse was chased by the cat' (passive).

Slide 2: Forming Active Voice

In active voice, the subject performs the action on the object. It follows the simple subject-verb-object pattern. For instance, 'She paints the picture.'

Slide 3: Forming Passive Voice

In passive voice, the object of the active voice becomes the subject of the passive voice sentence. The verb 'to be' is followed by the past participle of the main verb. For example, 'The picture is painted by her.'

Slide 4: Active vs. Passive Voice Usage

Active voice is direct, clear, and preferred in most writing. Passive voice is used when the focus is on the action rather than the doer, or when the doer is unknown or less important. For example, 'They awarded her the prize' (active) vs. 'She was awarded the prize' (passive).

Slide 5: Active and Passive Voice in Literature

Literary works often use passive voice to create a sense of mystery or to shift the focus onto the action or theme rather than the character performing the action. Active voice, on the other hand, is used for direct and impactful storytelling.

Slide 6: Practice Activity

Provide a mix of sentences in both active and passive voice. Ask students to identify the voice of each sentence and rewrite them to change the voice. Encourage peer review and discussion.

Slide 7: Advanced Application

Explore complex structures involving active and passive voice, such as sentences with modal verbs, perfect tenses, or multiple clauses. Encourage students to create their own sentences using advanced structures.

Slide 8: Conclusion

Summarize the key points about active and passive voice. Encourage students to continue practicing and applying their understanding in their writing.

Write down 3 things you learned in this lesson.

Have students enter three things they learned in this lesson. With this they can indicate their own learning efficiency of this lesson.

Write down 2 things you want to know more about.

Here, students enter two things they would like to know more about. This not only increases involvement, but also gives them more ownership.

Ask 1 question about something you haven't quite understood yet.

The students indicate here (in question form) with which part of the material they still have difficulty. For the teacher, this not only provides insight into the extent to which the students understand/master the material, but also a good starting point for the next lesson.